Trace
You can use this endeavor to establish the identity of a character whose Influence you have come into contact with. You cannot simply guess that a character has an Influence in a particular category and then attempt to Trace it. You must first have come into contact with it in one of the several ways. This can be accomplished by suffering an Attack from the target’s Influence, by noticing one of the target’s endeavors with the use of Watch, by stopping one of the target’s endeavors with a Block, or by having one your own endeavors stopped by the target’s use of Block. Additionally, if someone ever loans you Influence Traits with Combine, you can Trace them. Finally, if the target ever tells you in great detail about his Influence (i.e., agrees to let you Trace it), you can perform the Trace. The total actions spent on the Trace define its level. If the level of this Trace exceeds the highest level of Conceal or Stealth put up to guard the Influence that month, the Trace is successful. Success tells you the Influence owner’s identity, and whether their Influence level is higher than your own or not. It also gives you a general description of the Influence and the ability to spend Traits to Attack it. Using Trace is specific to one city. Therefore, if a character has Influence of the same type in more than one city, your Trace only tells you about the Influence in the city you are searching. If you have succeeded in a Trace on an Influence, you may not simply relay that information to someone else for his or her Influence to make an Attack on. The information is too complex for them to relay to their own Influence contacts without them actually performing a Trace themselves. If you have performed a successful Trace, you can relay enough information for someone else to perform a Trace with his or her own Influence. Mechanics Example Pauline has a level-four Influence (Police). Recently her attempt to access confiscated weapons was stopped by Carl’s level-two Block. Having established contact, Pauline decides to Trace the influence. The next month, she spends all four Traits to Trace. Carl, who has level-five Influence (Police), is spending two Traits to Block again this month, and because he fears others will Trace him, he puts his remaining three Traits into Conceal. As the level of Pauline’s Trace more than equals the level of Carl’s Conceal, Pauline discovers that the Influence that blocked her endeavor last month belongs to Carl. She discovers its general description (defined by Carl when he created his character) and that its level is higher than hers. Descriptive Example When Pauline made her character, she decided that her bribery and blackmail of the members of the local precinct would represent her Influence (Police). To make a Trace, Pauline writes up her Influence activities for the Storyteller as simply having every one of her contacts poke around until they discover who tightened the security on the confiscated weapons lock-up. After all, the police are supposed to be practiced investigators, right? Category:Influence Actions